ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the four provincial governments to provide a list of the people convicted by the accountability courts on corruption charges but later released on parole.
“What is the use of accountability if influential people are not to be put behind bars,” observed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry while hearing a petition of Nayyar Iqbal on denial of parole to his brother Ishfaq Khalid.
“The same facility has been extended to four former provincial ministers, Behram Achakzai, Faiq Jamali, Hafiz Loni and Nisar Ali Hazara, convicted in NAB cases for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income,” Mr Iqbal’s lawyer told the court.
Achakzai was awarded 19-year sentence in four corruption cases with a fine of Rs34 million. Jamali was sentenced to 38 years in eight cases with a fine of Rs63 million. Loni was convicted to ten years with a fine of Rs10 million and Hazara to four years with a fine of Rs56 million.
Additional Advocate-General Balochistan Mehmood Raza told the court that despite their release on parole, the former ministers were not paying the fine money.
“The National Accountability Bureau has twice issued reminders to them and the provincial chief secretary has been informed about the situation through an application but no action has been taken so far,” Mr Raza said.
The apex court issued notices to the four former ministers through IG Balochistan and ordered the provincial home secretary to submit a detailed report on the allegations by November 30.
The court observed that it had become its job to recover money for the NAB.
